Apr 5 2017

From The Space Library

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Current revision

MEDIA ADVISORY M17-040 NASA Television to Air Service Honoring Legacy of John Glenn

NASA Television will provide coverage of the interment service for NASA astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn at 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday, April 6, live from Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Glenn, who served four terms as a senator from Ohio, was one of NASA's original seven Mercury astronauts. His flight on Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962, showed the world that America was a serious contender in the space race with the Soviet Union. He will always be remembered as the first American to orbit the Earth during those tentative, challenging, daring days when humans were just beginning to venture beyond the atmosphere that had nurtured them since the species began.

MEDIA ADVISORY M17-039 NASA TV to Air Return of Space Station Crew Members to Earth April 10

Three crew members aboard the International Space Station are scheduled to depart the orbiting outpost Monday, April 10. Coverage of their departure and return to Earth will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos will undock their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the space station at 4 a.m. EDT and land in Kazakhstan at 7:20 a.m. (5:20 p.m. Kazakhstan time). Their return will wrap up 173 days in space for the crew members since their launch last October.

NASA TV will air coverage of the departure and landing activities at the following dates and times:

Sunday, April 9 10:40 a.m. – Change of command ceremony in which Kimbrough hands over station command to NASA’s Peggy Whitson

Monday, April 10 12:15 a.m. – Farewell and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure at 12:40 a.m.) 3:30 a.m. – Undocking coverage (undocking scheduled at 4 a.m.) 6 a.m. – Deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn at 6:27 a.m., landing at 7:20 a.m.) 9 a.m. – Video file of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities.

Tuesday, April 11 12 p.m. – Video file of landing and post-landing activities and post-landing interview with Kimbrough in Kazakhstan

Together, the Expedition 50 crew members continued work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard humanity’s only orbital laboratory.

At the time of undocking, Expedition 51 will begin aboard the station under Whitson’s command. Along with her crewmates Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency), the three-person crew will operate the station until the arrival of two new crew members. NASA’s Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch April 20 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

RELEASE 17-038 NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson Adds Three Months to Record-Breaking Mission

Already poised to break the record for cumulative time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut, Peggy Whitson is set to extend her mission with an additional three months at the International Space Station.

NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, signed an agreement to extend Peggy Whitson’s stay on the space station into Expedition 52. Rather than returning to Earth with her Expedition 51 crew mates Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency), in June as originally planned, Whitson will remain on the space station and return home with NASA’s Jack Fischer and Roscosmos’ Fyodor Yurchikhin. That landing is targeted for September.

“This is great news,” Whitson said. “I love being up here. Living and working aboard the space station is where I feel like I make the greatest contribution, so I am constantly trying to squeeze every drop out of my time here. Having three more months to squeeze is just what I would wish for.”

The arrangement takes advantage of a Soyuz seat left empty by the Roscosmos decision to temporarily reduce their crew complement to two cosmonauts. Whitson’s extension will ensure a full complement of six astronauts on board the station and increase the amount of valuable astronaut time available for experiments on board the station.

“Peggy’s skill and experience makes her an incredible asset aboard the space station,” said Kirk Shireman, NASA’s International Space Station Program Manager. “By extending the stay of one of NASA’s most veteran astronauts, our research, our technology development, our commercial and our international partner communities will all benefit."

This is Whitson’s third long-duration stay onboard the space station. She launched on Nov. 17 with 377 days in space already under her belt, and on April 24 will break Jeff Williams’ standing United States record of 534 cumulative days in space. In 2008, Whitson became the first woman to command the space station, and on April 9 will become the first woman to command it twice. In addition, she holds the record for most spacewalks by a female.